Recent Work by ITEP

After the Dust Has Settled: How Progressive Tax Policy Fared in the General Election

November 30, 2020 • By Marco Guzman

While the results of the 2020 presidential election are all but set in stone—and a sign of life for progressive policy—the results of state tax ballot initiatives are more of a mixed bag. However, the overall fight for tax equity and raising more revenue to invest in people and communities is trending in the right direction.

State Rundown 11/24: Lawmakers and Families Thankful to Be Nearing End to 2020

November 24, 2020 • By ITEP Staff

Just as people will search their hearts to give thanks this week for the small and large things that got them through a difficult year, state lawmakers are also doing their best to count their blessings while keeping fingers crossed for badly needed federal relief to give them something to be truly grateful for.

State Tax Policy: Innovations to Embrace, Schemes to Avoid

November 20, 2020 • By Amy Hanauer

Better tax policies will help communities emerge from the current staggering fiscal crisis with tax structures that reduce inequality at a time when rich people are thriving and public services are under siege. Preserving public spending will boost the economy and improve lives–and cutting these essentials will not only hurt people but also deepen the downturn, a lesson we learned in the Great Recession’s slow recovery. Other states should take note.

State Rundown 11/13: States Can Find Inspiration in Arizona Ballot Success; Must Look to Congress for More Immediate Help

November 13, 2020 • By ITEP Staff

Although progressive tax policy doesn’t always succeed in in statehouses or voting booths, Arizona voters showed once again that when offered a clear choice, most people resoundingly support requiring fairer tax contributions from rich individuals and highly profitable corporations over allowing their schools and other shared priorities to wither and decay. Still, a similar effort in Illinois and a more complicated measure in California were defeated, and anti-tax zealots in West Virginia and many other states will continue to push for tax cuts for the rich and defunding public investments, leaving much work to be done to advance tax justice.

Biden’s Economic Policy Agenda Deserves Serious Debate, Not Obstruction

November 12, 2020 • By Jenice Robinson

Obstructing policies that improve economic well-being should not be on any party’s legislative agenda, especially when so many are barely keeping their heads above water.

State Rundown 10/28: Anti-Tax Horror Stories Proving Less Spooky in 2020

October 28, 2020 • By ITEP Staff

Even with Halloween coming up this weekend, months of dealing with the horrors of the Covid-19 pandemic have made it hard to scare anyone in the closing months of 2020, which state lawmakers and residents are showing by voting in droves and supporting policies they had been more trepidatious about in recent years.

An Underfunded IRS Allows Corporations to Get Away with Probably Illegal Tax Dodges

October 28, 2020 • By Matthew Gardner

A new look at S&P 500 annual financial reports for 2019 shows that five companies—Chevron, Dell, Eli Lilly, ExxonMobil and General Electric—kept $1 billion in tax breaks they admitted were probably illegal because tax authorities failed to come to a final determination before the statute of limitations ran out.

Trump Says Taxes Will Be Too High on the 2% Who Pay More Under Biden’s Plan

October 22, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff

The Trump campaign has failed to convince the public that large numbers of Americans would face tax hikes under Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s tax plan. The claim has been widely discredited. For example, ITEP found that the federal taxes that people pay directly would rise for just 1.9 percent of taxpayers in the U.S., and that number does not vary much by state. So, Fox News and other conservative voices are trying out a new argument: Biden’s tax plan would be too burdensome for that 1.9 percent.

Voters Have the Chance in 2020 to Increase Tax Equity in Arizona, Illinois, and California, And They Should

October 22, 2020 • By Marco Guzman

There’s a lot at stake in this election cycle: the nation and our economy are reeling from the effects brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and states remain in limbo as they weigh deep budget cuts and rush to address projected revenue shortfalls.

State Rundown 10/21: States Preparing Ingredients for 2021 Fiscal Debates

October 21, 2020 • By ITEP Staff

State lawmakers around the nation are already looking well past the upcoming election to the legislative debates they’ll be cooking up in 2021. In Iowa and Nebraska, anti-tax groups are thawing out regressive tax shift ideas they had put on ice earlier in the pandemic. In Delaware, a lawsuit and recent settlement have put educational and property tax inequities on the menu for the upcoming session. Meanwhile New Jersey and New York are both looking to add stock to their revenue mixes with progressive taxes on stock trades.